SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON SIX: AFTER THE MILLENNIUM

After the Millennium is a wonderful,  if overlong look back at the groundbreaking Chris Carter’s series that debuted on this day in 1996. 

There’s some compelling admissions here; like how actor Bill Smitrovich wanted out because of the grim nature of the series, despite signing on at the outset based on the series’ original methodology. He called the gore “buckets of blood” repeatedly as the reason he decided to end his run at the finish of the first season. It’s a shame because his interplay as Bob Bletcher with the lead character Frank Black worked so brilliantly, was extremely formidable, and something that most of us were looking forward to more of. 

It’s great to see Brittney Tiplady all grown-up and sharing stories about being a youth around the varied and legendary cast that also includes Megan Gallagher as her mom.  Gallagher contributes her thoughts at the power of the series and also the occasional disappointment at her lack of substantive moments, despite her powerful ending storyline.

I love the input of the writers, particularly Kay Reindl and Erin Maher from the third season, very insightful stuff.  Kevin Whitley takes on the combination of humor and grue in his scripts. The lack of mention of Jose Chung‘s Doomsday Defense was a bit disappointing.  Especially when you take into account that guest actor Charles Nelson Reilly was nominated for an Emmy for the episode.  Considering the length, they could have fit that in.  Instead, for the quirky episodes, they elected to go with analysis of Somehow Satan Got Behind Me.  Henriksen's take on his initial thoughts on that episode are pretty honest and a tad surprising.  

Although I believe the clip they use of Henriksen punching someone in the nards is from Chung, credited to the Somehow, Satan episode.

Leaders from X-Files fame, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, had much to say throughout and all of it is deep in emotion, tone and thought.  Never lacking to head into cerebral territory.  The lack of Terry O'Quinn, whose presence as Peter Watts was such an important factor in Millenium, is noticeable.  He does not go without being discussed, however.

Overall, a tad long-winded and perhaps dry to the outsider, but there is plenty of meat on these bones for the Ouroboros fanatic to gnaw on. 

It goes out on a terrific “what could be” hashing of ideas, and all involved say what they would love to do to rebreathe life into the series, or even go out on as a coda. 

After the Millennium is a pretty good look back at a wonderful series led by Frank Black himself, Lance Henriksen.  His reminiscences are of an odd chuckling nature, like a storytelling pater familia, and they are anathema to the grim stone-faced character he played on the show.  In many ways, as he was the face of the show, his now gray, weathered countenance overhangs this retrospective with the same power, if not wizened humor. 

His walk off as he chortles is something to rewatch.  

Happy 30th, Frank Black. 

SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: HOKUM

Hokum is a damn nifty little horror film. One of the best I’ve seen in a long time. It not only has moments that will actually make you jump (and there are several), it has tons of tone and atmosphere. Atmosphere that is extremely well set up by the moaning and humming that make up a large portion of the eerie score. I was trying to picture a person conducting a session to create this music, not getting goosebumps and the creeps from the process. There are also John Carpenter-esque segments to the score that are just outlandishly powerful. 

Adam Scott, who normally plays an asshole, (key moment: Stepbrothers) occupies another one here as an author who goes to Ireland to pay homage to his dead parents and dispose of their ashes in a place he felt would be appropriate. He ends up getting wrapped up in the legend of a witch in the honeymoon suite of the hotel he’s staying at. Horrific imagery, shocks, and hellscape auditory performances abound. 

Contrary to his nature, he gets involved in helping another,, and that’s when the true creepiness of this film truly settles in. Consider it an edgier, ethnic 1408. Scott is terrific, whether annoying, morose, or horrified. The supporting cast of Irish folks is also wonderful, and they inject just enough humor in here to lighten things enough to make you shit your pants that much more when Hokum brings the hammer down. It also takes place right around Halloween, so it’s perfect for this time of year.

 A five star Samhain project special.  Great stuff. 

SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: SOME HORROR COMICS

I've blathered on here a little about how I'm not really into horror comics.  But George Romero's Creepshow and Tales From the Crypt, my flirtation with the early 70's Fleischer/Aparo Spectre series has kind of brought me around a little.  So I've come across a couple titles for a few pence, and it being Halloween, I thought I'd make it fit into The Project. 

1974:  Secrets of Sinister House:  

I'd not even heard of this title until I stumbled across it at an Allen Mercantile. Great fonts and cover art drew me to it.  Secrets definitely fits the "morality tale" aspect of the medium.  The story from this issue I chose was the grim The House That Death Built.  Much like the ghost story in John Carpenter's The Fog, you have a disgusting soul who sets beach fires to draw 1800's ships to the rocks and their dooms.  At that point, he and his crew go to looting the remains of the sunken vessels.  This guy, whose cheapness only barely outreaches his greed, decides to build a manse from the timbers of the murdered ships.  You can see where it goes from there.  Great ghoulish fun, with your standard comic writing, I was not disappointed. 

1979: Unexpected dollar comic:  

I hinted at this book here, in Full Circle.  The story that belongs to the cover images is a short one entitled Ozzie & Mary.  Obviously poking fun at Donnie & Marie, you have a television pair of siblings who appear to be America's darlings on camera, but behind it, not even close.  Once again, greed exceeds familial love, and "Ozzie" decides to plan an awful on-camera prank on "Mary", and from there it pinwheels out of control, like all morality tales do.  As disturbing as it looked to me as an 8 year old, when I was so shaken by the cover?  Nah.  On a side note, that ad that I mentioned in Full Circle, is also within the comic itself!  How Meta!

1969 Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery (Gold Key)

I didn't get many Gold Key titles as a kid.  One I still have is the comic version of Disney's Aristocats.  What a wonderful piece of Amazing from the late 60's!  Anyhoo, the tale The Medium may be the most satisfying of all the entries in today's piece of work.  You can literally hear Mr. Karloff narrating the intro and outro to the tale as you read his words next to his four-color visage.  You have a medium, a self centered fake, a money-grubbing con artist, who decides to visit the competition.  And when he finds out his competitor may be the real deal, rather than learning a thing or two, he engages his own personality to wonderfully grim morality tale outcomes!

All 3 of these were a ton of fun, and as I reach my mid 50's, I realize the Bronze age of comics, in terms of writing and art, are looking more and more like they will blend into the Silver.  This makes me sad as I read modern titles here and there. The difference is incredible in both the physical and literary productions. Everything moves forward as time does, and that's a lesson I'm having a hard time accepting. 

SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: THE FACULTY

 

SEASON 6

Robert Rodriguez is one of my favorite filmmakers.  And for good reason.  It's not just the fact that he historically does everything himself.  And I mean it, from directing, shooting, editing, scoring, and visual effects, he's run the gamut in both 35mm and digital.  He started out shooting on low-grade film, and quickly moved forward with the times technologically.  It's all mapped out in his autobiography Rebel Without a Crew.  Highly recommended.

The Faculty was released the same year (1998) as the film I reviewed just a bit back, Urban Legend.  Despite being well-produced affairs with name casts, you can feel the difference from the opening frames.  The Faculty is the far better film.  It has, as Frani puts it, an edge that Legend just didn't have.  Whether it's the interesting use of music, badass camera angles, or Rodriguez' incredible editing, take your pick.

The casting is pretty slick.  Rather than the college setting in Legend, you have high school.  The script is better here, written by Scream's Kevin Williamson, so it's not fair to hold that against Urban Legend.  But that's the only category I'll give a mulligan on. Marco Beltrami's score is pretty good, and KNB are on board with the practical effects. All around great filmmaking. 

But the cast.  Wow.  All of those on board here, either as the teenagers quickly becoming aware that an alien takeover is occurring, or the school's staff, menacing and hilarious, who are the "pod people" looking for global domination are really good.

Most of them have gone on to become busy and respected performers.  The students (largely still rising at the time) include Sean Hatosy, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Jordana Brewster and Clea Duvall.  The staff (familiar, but not the legends they are now) include Robert Patrick, Bebe Neuwirth, Famke Jannsen, Salma Hayek, and Jon Stewart. 

Piper Laurie, however, was already a legend at the time, rest her soul.

Hartnett as the aloof drug-dealing genius and Duvall as the sci-fi geek solo girl stand out.  These could have been squeaky clean hero kids, but this film didn't take that route.  Robert Patrick, who saved the John Cena vehicle The Marine by being the best possible hilarious tongue-in-cheek baddie does it here first.  Jon Stewart as the nerdy science teacher is fun to convincing.  But when these staffers have to become evil humanity-draining automatons, the switch is flipped successfully. 

Where the real difference between Urban Legend and The Faculty lies is the editing.  Rodriguez is having a blast here, injecting tone into the sci-fi plotline.  The scene where the teens try to calmly trek it out of the school surrounded by potential alien outlanders is slick, tight, sharp as a tack and eerie.  It also has twists, legitimately solid ones, that aren't found in Urban Legend.  The high action scenes are raw, edgy, and convincing.  The film has a 70's physicality to it that you just didn't see, even in 1998. 

It's pretty amazing when you consider that this was a pretty well-budgeted and marketed Dimension Studios film with a big cast all the way around, and yet not one of the first films that comes to mind when you think of Rodriguez.  That can be said despite the reduction of volume and quality of the work he's done in the last 15 years or so.  You can't blame the guy, he tried to get a cable channel off the ground and spawned a pretty decent television series based on his From Dusk Til Dawn on its airwaves.  Unfortunately, El Rey wasn't meant to last forever. 

Rodriguez' filmography will, however. 

SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: HOLIDAY SNACK'N

Part of the seasonal fun for me kicks off with the Halloween goodies in the stores.  I used my phone as a camera on a couple of food and department store visits to document the Halloween marketing bonanza. This is normally something fun that kicks off the seasons for me, but this year pickings were fairly slim. That being said, the products can even include gross-ass fireworks. 

But the snacks are fun.  Everybody loves candy around Halloween, though I try to minimize it. But you can always find fun stuff in that department.  However, what's with the snot obsession this year?

on the more normal (in the Peeps case that's a stretch) side of things, there's these:

I didn’t see much in the breakfast cereals department outside of the second year in a row of Jim Henson’s monster cereals.  But we did see some cookies of the refrigerated variety: 

I never did understand how someone could stand up in a standard food corporation meeting and pitch something like this.  Sure it may not effect the flavor, but really?  Halloween salad dressing??

I did pick up some cheap freaky cheese balls in a giant tub that were extremely cheap: 

But truly, the only Halloween sweets that I actually look forward to, seek out, and partake in annually are the Ghost DOTS & Hostess Scary Cakes.

However, one thing that pisses me off this year is the sudden appearance of clearance tags.  

On October 9th!!

I asked a department store employee why that is the way it is, and she told me it was to probably make room for Christmas goods; with a shrug. 

Don’t rush my holidays, you assholes. I waited all year through a cruddy and painful late winter and spring, and one of the most hellish summers I’ve experienced for this!  There’s plenty of time to enjoy it all.  So give me the opportunity to relish it!

Sorry.  I'm calm now.

SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: COMPANION

SEASON 6

 

Companion makes a good companion piece (pun fully intended) to the recent kaboom, Obsessed. 

Both involve emotional attachment that is unfounded and forced, while being manipulated and used by another.  Both involve fantastic performances by the female lead.  Both involve one shitty-ass “nice guy”

AI is seen to be awful, and in most cases there is evidence in today’s headlines that it may well be the end of us all.  But it should surprise no one that some folks would be inspired to abuse it as well. And in the ways that are exemplified here, terribly. 

And that abuse leads to entitlement, which leads to a bloody snowball rolling down the mountain of intentions in this quirky nightmare. 

Instead of worldwide effects, the AI here is handled in an isolated incident.  Therefore, humanity and the artificial intelligence problems are in a real “one can’t exist without the other” scenario.  Sophie Thatcher (so great in Yellowjackets and the amazing Heretic) plays the human robot here with a sad far-away aura reminiscent of a Blade Runner replicant.  Shades of The Stepford Wives make themselves apparent as well.  The discomfort created by that film's "androids" is not at all dissipated by decades of time nor different performers.

Jack Quaid's character, the “owner” of her, is a seeming mensch of a human, yet in reality a dangerous twat; self absorbed despite himself. And he pulls the role off well.  He stretches a bit from his parts in The Boys and Neighborhood Watch.  His pathetic embrace of entitlement is almost as disgusting as his willingness to abandon all elements of humanity during the execution of a poorly thought out scam.  Quaid seems less human than Thatcher at this point.

Harvey Guillen, so transcendent in television's What We Do in the Shadows, adds wonderful humor of a lighter scent (at least at the outset) to the otherwise pitch black comedy.  

Thought provoking, sad, and maddening, Companion has many layers and some may even keep you up at night.  

Halloween horror?  Perhaps not, but oft-terrifying nonetheless.  Remember.  A human created AI.  And many that engineered it are issuing the warnings on it in the news.  Like last week's news.  Those are probably the good engineers.

What about the bad ones?

SAMHAIN PROJECT, SEASON 6: MONKEY SHINES

 

SEASON 6

As anyone who reads this thing of mine would know, I'm a huge George A. Romero fan.  Big time.  And not just because of his "Living Dead" oeuvre, but plenty of others.  Frani and I just sat down to one I've long left unseen: Monkey Shines: An Experiment in Terror.  

Jason Beghe (fans of Chicago P.D. & the old HBO early series 1st & 10 are familiar) is in an accident and wheelchair bound at the outset.  He loses it all, including girlfriend Janine Turner in an early role, who is taken by his spinal surgeon, Stanley Tucci.  Early in Tucci's career, smarmy little shits were his specialty. For good reason, because he played them well, as evidenced by It Could Happen To You and Kiss of Death, especially.  

Beghe's character is set up with a live-in monkey to help him function independently.  This monkey is donated by close scientist friend, John Pankow, who is probably the strongest performer in the film.  Always a strong actor, from To Live & Die in L.A. to Mad About You, and more, this shouldn't be a surprise.  There's a love interest of a sort in Kate McNeil who trains Beghe's monkey.  (That sounds vaguely double entendre-ish).  This sometimes works and often doesn't.  She's charming enough, and many will recognize her from House On Sorority Row.  Her in depth, chuckling look back at that genre favorite in In Search of Darkness III is quite the hoot. 

What does work is Ella.  The monkey.  She does everything Beghe requires and more.  This little creature is as adorable as they come, and quickly wins over the viewer.  She falls in love with our leading man, and due to some sort of chemical treatment being applied by Pankow, a link between the two is formed.  Ella becomes jealous, angry and violent.  Along the way, so does Beghe.  It's not convincing however, because when he gets vicious, it looks like he's doing a bad Robert DeNiro impression. 

And also, as Frani pointed out, even when Ella is supposed to be imposing and intimidating, she is just too damn cute.  And the final confrontation results in the viewer really not being able to decide who's the real villain here.  Because adorable is adorable.  Oh, just keep trying to smother me with your monstrous, fuzzy love, you snuggly little antagonist, you!!

Overall, thanks to Romero's deft touch, the movie works.  It's an interesting concept for a horror film, and well-written by George himself.  I recommend it.  It may not be the maestro's finest hour, but it definitely fits nicely into the era where George had studio backing and some degree of freedom.  Sadly, this ended when the original Orion pictures went under and the still excellent The Dark Half wasn't able to completely cross the finish line.  Solid stuff from a man with an incredibly diverse resume.